Who invented magnets?

A:

Although magnets were not invented, they were discovered by either the ancient Greeks or the Chinese. According to a legend, a Greek shepherd accidentally discovered lodestones in an area called Magnesia. Lodestone contains magnetite, which is a mineral found in nature as an iron ore.

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However, the ancient Chinese also were familiar with lodestone and its magnetic properties. Nearly 4,500 years ago, they used lodestones in divining devices and mariner compasses. For these ancient people, lodestone magnetism was a natural phenomenon that was not understood.

It was not until the 1600s that magnetism began to be studied and understood by men like Peregrinus and William Gilbert. In 1820, Hans Oersted showed that there was a relationship between electricity and magnetism. Another important person that worked on magnetism and its relationship with electricity was James Clark Maxwell.

Related Questions

Several products and procedures were invented in 1974. One example is the Post-It Note, which was created by American Arthur Fry. Since their invention, Post-It Notes have been sold in over 100 countries across the world and are still used over 40 years later.

No single person invented algebra. The roots of algebra extend to the ancient Babylonians, who first developed mathematical techniques to solve problems using algorithms. Later work by Greek, Persian and Indian mathematicians further extended these techniques and laid the foundations for modern algebra.

Algebra, in its earliest form, was first used by the Babylonians as early as 1700 B.C. It is possible that algebra was used before this time, but historical records are incomplete. However, the algebra used by early civilizations was much more rudimentary than the algebra currently in use today.